Thank you Mr O'Neill

[Concrete John]

You're going to have to explain that for me...

Pray to whatever Gods you have that he does not - it'll only confuse you more!

[jembob]

If people want to slag MON for leaving then fair enough.  But conclusions, either right or wrong, about his character have nothing to do with his ability as a football manager.   

Indeed not. I always got the feeling that his motivational skills were his key asset. He showed over recent seasons that he is rather limited as a football manager, and while I appreciate that his first 3 years at the club could be seen as a success, last season showed that he wasn't good enough to make that final step into the top 4. Despite finishing 6th and 2 trips to Wembley, we were inches away from 4th and failed due to a number of factors (one dimensional football, players in wrong position, lack of rotation etc)

When MON first arrived I remember him grumbling that Doug had questioned his tactics and he said that he wouldn't expect to explain himself to a Chairman again. My interpretation of the situation was that he was given carte blanche (and significant funds) to get into the top 4, and when he cocked up was reigned in. His ego would not take having to explain himself to his employers about target signings etc and his response was to tell every one of us to f*ck off, despite all of the support which he's had.

[Billy Walker]

you are right to criticise my use of the word fool to descibe Mon.

I should have said twat

I hope we appoint another twat then, one that improves the club season on season and gets us to Wembley for a major final.

It would appear MON's decision to walk out has wiped the previous four years from some peoples memories.

And I say this not as a MON fan or Lerner fan or anybody else for that matter, but as a Villa fan. And as such I went the best available people working at the club from the chairman to the tea lady regardless of who they are. Without MON we are in a worse position from a football point of view, unless we bring in someone who is an improvement, and from the names touted, that is not very likely. And until both sides of the story have been revealed I will reserve judgement on MON's decision to walk.

Couldn't agree more with Nev.  His analysis is measured, sensible and spot-on.  Our club is crying out for a "twat".  Problem is they are a rare breed amongst managers.  I could never understand fans moaning when the club was ticking along nicely and as stable as it had been for years.  There's nowt as queer as folk I would say. 

A message to Randy:  Find us a twat - and quick!

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Incidentally, if Ireland was forced on him by the board, I can understand why he would walk.

I think Ireland is a great signing, but if MON didnt want him and he was forced to take him, I dont think he had much choice.

Again, it's all conjecture.

From the comments made by Ireland after he'd signed, he was well aware of Villa's interest long before MON bolted. The refusal by the board to buy Aiden McGready I think was the turning point. The fact that MON never bothered to phone Randy when he resigned tells you everything you need to know about the final days of their relationship. I'm guessing here but I can imagine Randy telling MON to speak with Paul and MON refusing to acknowledge Faulkner as his boss.

I would say you are not too far away from the truth...although I cant see him throwing his lot in over McGeady!

But if your scenario is close to the truth, would you not accept that the blame has to be apportioned to both MON and the board for letting a situation develop to the point where it did.

You're basically asking me to blame the board for appointing Paul Faulkner.

MON seemed happy to deal directly with Randy but he never appeared to accept that Paul Faulkner was his boss. There was a comment a few months ago when MON stated he had a great relationship with Randy and an okayish relationship with Faulkner. From that day on, I knew he wasn't happy with the new set up. He's a very proud/egotistical man and the thought of him reporting to a 30 year old, no matter how smart, was completely beneath him. It was only ever going to end in tears. His final comment about how it may have been different if Randy had been down the corridor, just strengthens the argument.

Should I blame the board for appointing Faulkner? I don't know, should I?

[Yossarian]

My own hypothesis is that MON was told at the start of the summer that we were a sell to buy club. With the Milner sale and McGeady not coming, MON was told we are a sell club. Redrawn boundaries, MON walks and we are in the shit.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

My own hypothesis is that MON was told at the start of the summer that we were a sell to buy club. With the Milner sale and McGeady not coming, MON was told we are a sell club. Redrawn boundaries, MON walks and we are in the shit.

At the start of the summer Randy told the press Milner was not for sale. The "sell to buy" came from MON who was probably nervous at the values we would be getting the deadwood of the wage bill and in hindsight probably realising he's over paid for them and given them salaries that would make it very hard to move. His only hope was that Randy would take a hit on the loss and brush it under the carpet and still give him fresh money to spend.

Didn't the General come out with something in May/June about "admitting to our mistakes, learning from them and moving on"? It seems MON couldn't bring himself to do the first two and chose the latter.

[Monty]

I think it's got nothing to do with transfer fees and everything to do with wages. The finances would have been there for McGeady - had we been able to shift some of the expensive deadwood. At the moment, we have a wage bill in thorough disarray, and we simply cannot afford to put another high-salary player on it at the moment.

[pablopicasso_10]

martin o'neill vindictively and selfishly left 5 days before the season started so to cause maxiumum damage to our season, so that his media knobend mates like oliver holte can then proclaim that we were wrong not to allow him to spunk more money on shite like cuellar, heskey, sidwell, petrov, beye, etc, (at the same time, criticising the likes of portsmouth and leeds for financially gambling), and in the process, protect his own reputation that is largely built down to morons from the sun and the mirror... all respect for that cowardly self absorbed cretin disappeared the day he picked his timing to cause maximum damage and left us right in the shit...

[Concrete John]

martin o'neill vindictively and selfishly left 5 days before the season started so to cause maxiumum damage to our season, so that his media knobend mates like oliver holte can then proclaim that we were wrong not to allow him to spunk more money on shite like cuellar, heskey, sidwell, petrov, beye, etc, (at the same time, criticising the likes of portsmouth and leeds for financially gambling), and in the process, protect his own reputation that is largely built down to morons from the sun and the mirror... all respect for that cowardly self absorbed cretin disappeared the day he picked his timing to cause maximum damage and left us right in the shit...

OK, that's the balanced view sorted.  Now for some extreme opinions.....

[dave.woodhall]

Everyone is drawing their own conclusions based on their own theories. No-one knows anything for definite, except that O'Neill walked out at THAT time. All summising must therefore start from the one given fact.

[sfx412]

martin o'neill vindictively and selfishly left 5 days before the season started so to cause maxiumum damage to our season, so that his media knobend mates like oliver holte can then proclaim that we were wrong not to allow him to spunk more money on shite like cuellar, heskey, sidwell, petrov, beye, etc, (at the same time, criticising the likes of portsmouth and leeds for financially gambling), and in the process, protect his own reputation that is largely built down to morons from the sun and the mirror... all respect for that cowardly self absorbed cretin disappeared the day he picked his timing to cause maximum damage and left us right in the shit...

Which for those requiring an explanation to my use of the term twat, is a far better summation of the man.

Not that for one second do I expect anyone to accept it, its always hard when the emperor is found out and you are left totally embarrassed for supporting him even though he was without clothes:)

[Chico Hamilton III]

Malcolm, I think there's a thread in Off Topic that you havent posted on yet, telling everyone how fucking clever you are.

No one likes a smart arse

[cheltenhamlion]

Whether you are a MON fan or not, you cannot argue that the timing of his departure was disastrous, whatever the reasons for him leaving.

I would also suggest that under him we wouldn't have had the cocking we got at Newcastle.

That seems balanced!

[Clampy]

At the end of the day, if we're going to carry on blaming MON every time we lose a game, it's not going to get us anywhere. It's all a bit pointless. We need to look forward. We need to suss out why we played West Ham off the park with some of the best flowing football i've seen down there for a while,  only to see us fall apart in the last two games. This is what should be worrying us. We can't change what's happened, we can only influence the rest of the season.

[pablopicasso_10]

i supported martin o'neill, albeit wasnt adverse to criticising him when i felt it was needed, but after what he has done, i have no respect whatsoever for him now, and all the good work he did, has been completely undone...